Business Journal-Portland articles from October 1994

Business Journal-Portland archives from October 1994

Denny Smith's thrifty deal.
October 28, 1994... For Denny Smith, the troublesome savings and loan crisis is always right next door. Oregon gubernatorial candidate Smith said this week that his repurchase of a controversial Salem industrial park adjacent to his campaign headquarters was...

Overseas deals at end of long hallway. (Lane International Corp.) (Focus: International Business)
October 28, 1994... Scott Robertson remembers this long hallway in Japan. It was 50, 60, no... maybe 70 feet long. At the very end was the office of a high-ranking government official who could open doors for his product in the Japanese market. Along the length...

Oregon Steel selects Portland for expansion. (Oregon Steel Mills Inc.)
October 28, 1994... Tax incentives, deal with PGE key to $190 million project Oregon Steel Mills Inc. has started construction on a $190 million expansion that will nearly double the capacity of its flagship plant in Portland's Rivergate Industrial area. "We...

Providers inject flu shots into workplace, shopping centers.
October 28, 1994... Inoculation business a simple serum of the 3 Ps--prevention, profits and PR Health care providers are rolling up their sleeves going after the business of selling flu shots in the name of preventive medicine, public relations and profit....

Teamsters reach tentative deal; clerks still out. (International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Fred Meyer Inc.)
October 28, 1994... Union clerks and grocers hope a tentative contract agreement with Fred Meyer truckers and warehouse workers is an omen for the end to Portland's two-month-old grocery strike. Fred Meyer and the Teamsters union, which represents workers at the...

Commercial Bank, West Coast deal linked to common interests. (Commercial Bancorp.; West Coast Bancorp.)
October 28, 1994... The merger of West Coast Bancorp on the shores of the Pacific, and Commercial Bancorp in the heart of the Willamette Valley, came as no surprise to industry watchers who expected a union between the two for some time. Three critical factors...

Golf course developer sets up pins for bowling in Vietnam. (Oregon Central Corp. to set up bowling alley in Hanoi)
October 28, 1994... A Portland developer that helped build the popular Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course may soon team up with a Springfield company to get a bowling alley rolling in Vietnam. "Hanoi is very interested in creating wholesome entertainment for people,"...

Attention political junkies: here's a magazine for you. (Oregon Voter)
October 28, 1994... Although the election season is almost over, Oregonians can closely monitor political issues in 1995 with the Oregon Voter, a new magazine targeting state and local politics. The non-partisan bimonthly publication begins distribution in early...

Vancouver Housing Authority pays $8.6 million for Parklane Apartments. (Vancouver, WA)
October 28, 1994... The Vancouver Housing Authority has bought the 260-unit Parklane Apartments in an $8.6 million deal. Housing authority officials say the purchase will help preserve affordable housing in Clark County's Interstate 5 corridor. With the new...

Feds indict ex-Portlander in stock deal. (Patrick W.M. Imeson)
October 28, 1994... An on-again, off-again local entrepreneur was indicted Aug. 24 on two counts of securities fraud and two counts of criminal contempt in connection with an alleged stock trading scam. Patrick W.M. Imeson, a former Portland resident who is now...

Schnitzers land $143 million in private financing. (American Apartment Communities)
October 28, 1994... The apartment company co-founded by Portland's Schnitzer family has raised $143 million in private funds--less than three weeks after Wall Street rejected its initial stock offering. American Apartment Communities raised the cash in a private...

Tightening the campaign purse. (Oregon's proposed Measure 9) (Interview)
October 28, 1994... Oregon State Public Interest Research Group's Tim Raphael says Measure 9's contribution limits would restore balance to politics As the mudslinging and advertising wars drone on in this fall's state election campaigns, Ballot Measure 9 has...

Landa Inc. (Focus: International Business) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1994... PORTLAND Roger Hague, international sales manager for Landa Inc. in Portland, says the call from one of his Mexican dealers was cheerful, earnest, even sincere. The dealer recommended that if a certain Mexican customer called about...

Analogy Inc. (Focus: International Business) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1994... BEAVERTON Sometimes international marketing is like dancing with someone who seems to be listening to a different piece of music than you are. Patience is the only answer to finally getting in sync. Analogy Inc., a Beaverton-based designer...

Starbucks shops give jolt to neighborhood retail districts. (Portland, OR) (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... But does coffee chain pick trendy sites, or make them? CAFFEINE. IT MAKES the heart beat faster. It increases alertness. It wakes the slumbering. And apparently it can do the same thing for a neighborhood business district. "I'm not...

From veggies to microchips: Hillsboro's horn of plenty. (Hillsboro, OR) (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... How one little suburb drew the attention of giants like Intel, IDT LONGTIME HILLSBORO residents remember when civic leaders worried that prosperity had bypassed their small community. The city watched with concern as other suburbs attracted...

Rowhouses start to head downmarket, but not too far. (Portland, OR) (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... Change of neighborhood brings prices down to about $135,000 THE CUTAWAY JACKET was once at the height of society fashion. Only the truly wealthy and sophisticated would ever be seen in one. But then, human nature being what it is, some of the...

REIT explosion drives up property values. (real estate investment trust) (Real Estate Quarterly) (Industry Overview)
October 28, 1994... THE REAL ESTATE investment trust explosion and the trend toward securitization of real estate have driven up property values--especially for apartments and industrial products--says a study by the national appraisal services division of CB...

Big four commercial brokerages launch war of the numbers. (CB Commercial Group Inc.; Norris, Beggs and Simpson; Grubb and Ellis; Cushman and Wakefield Inc.) (Real Estate Quarterly) (Industry Overview)
October 28, 1994... It's the Battle of the Butterhorns as researchers vie for dominance EACH JANUARY, CB Commercial holds a downtown breakfast. In February, Norris, Beggs & Simpson has a breakfast meeting in Vancouver. Grubb & Ellis offers breakfast as well,...

Kirkland company offers software for real estate illiterates. (Northwest Geografx Corp.; Latitude) (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... Geografx plans nationwide rollout of residential mapping product ARMED WITH A NEW president, $400,000 in seed money and some veteran software investors, a small software company plans to map the nation piece by geographical piece. Leading...

George Jetson Real Estate? Not quite, but getting there. (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... Brokers experiment with new technology to gain competitive edge SELLING REAL ESTATE is by its nature a very personal business. Good chemistry between a broker and a client is essential, and deals are sealed with a handshake and a smile....

Puget Sound apartment market begging for tenants. (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... Developers add more units to surplus, sending vacancy skyward IT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE: What has 11,000 empty units, and just 61 new customers to fill them? The answer: the Puget Sound apartment market. But it's no joke for area landlords,...

Kemper Freeman Jr. keeps his balance in business, on Harley. (real estate developer) (Real Estate Quarterly)
October 28, 1994... Peers elect Freeman president of shopping center association AS THE DEVELOPER of both the Bellevue Place complex and the Bellevue Square shopping center in Washington, Kemper Freeman Jr. could have located his office on the 20th floor, where...

Aetna cools on Portland market as insurance giant consolidates. (Aetna Life and Casualty Co.)
October 21, 1994... National insurance giant Aetna Health Plans is gutting its 120-employee Portland claims office and plans to shift most of the work to Seattle. Aetna's vice president of marketing, Gloria Stone, said the changes are part of a long-term...

Swoosh on ice. (Nike Inc. plans to acquire Canstar Sports Inc.)
October 21, 1994... Nike may glide into chic skating market by buying Canstar Nike Inc. may be poised to buy a Montreal-based maker of hockey and skating equipment, but both companies are remaining tight-lipped about what, if anything, is in the works....

Castle Harlan serves $24 million to McCormick and Schmick's table. (Castle Harlan Partners II)
October 21, 1994... A New York investment firm has dished out $24 million to buy a piece of the McCormick & Schmick restaurant chain. The firm, Castle Harlan Partners II, says it intends to stay in the background and let McCormick & Schmick's current owners take...

PacifiCorp's competitive stance impresses Wall Street.
October 21, 1994... PacifiCorp is becoming a darling of Wall Street in an industry that the financial community now loves to hate. "PacifiCorp could be one of the few beneficiaries of increased competition in the electric markets," said Dan Hagen, an analyst...

Ambulance wars flare up in suburbs: Clark, Clackamas deals bring criticism for ambitious American Medical Response Inc. (Clark County and Clackamas County, Oregon)
October 14, 1994... Already under fire for its handling of two area ambulance contracts, American Medical Response is girding for more criticism from competitors in November when it goes after the lucrative Multnomah County emergency response contract. Does...

Diaper baron Pitassi readying deal-making firm in Vancouver. (Drypers Corp. cofounder David Pitassi)
October 14, 1994... David Pitassi, the young co-founder of the $156 million-a-year Drypers Corp., has returned to Vancouver and plans to use his entrepreneurial skills to create new companies and strategic alliances. "Really, what I'm doing is focusing on what's...

ESI stock offering seen as precursor to buying spree. (Electro Scientific Industries Inc.)
October 14, 1994... In 1992 Electro Scientific Industries Inc. was "dog meat on Wall Street," according to a particularly dramatic Seattle analyst. The company's stock had plummeted to $2.50 from an all-time high of $26.50 in 1985. More than 100 workers were...

Emerging Technologies signs venture with Alaska company. (Emerging Technologies International; Chugach Development Corp.)
October 14, 1994... A small Portland environmental firm is forming a joint venture with the native-owned corporation that provides spill prevention and clean-up services for the Alaska oil pipeline. Emerging Technologies International, a local biotechnology firm...

Motif retrofit cost soared beyond $2 million. (Motif Inc.'s manufacturing plant costs)
October 14, 1994... Reports that Motif Inc.'s failed liquid crystal display manufacturing plant would have cost $2 million to fix are unrealistically low, according to industry analysts, who say it would likely cost five times that amount to alleviate problems on...

Clark PUD chooses Cogentrix to build power plant. (Clark Public Utilities Board; Cogentrix Inc.; gas-fired power plant)
October 14, 1994... Energy Initiatives says it will build its plant anyway Cogentrix Inc. has convinced the Clark Public Utilities board that it's the best company to build the PUD's proposed 248-megawatt, gas-fired power plant. But rival Energy Initiatives...

PacifiCare, OHSU both foresee benefits from closer ties. (PacifiCare of Oregon Inc.; Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital)
October 14, 1994... PacifiCare of Oregon Inc. and Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital have just gotten cozier. PacifiCare, a large HMO, will add University Hospital and an affiliated 45-physician group to its provider network starting January 1995. That...

Wal-Mart eyes Tigard Triangle. (Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to put up new store in Tigard, OR)
October 7, 1994... Wal-Mart Stores Inc.--the world's largest retailer--may make its long-awaited local debut at a Tigard site once deemed the best locale for Washington Square mall. Gordon Martin Jr. and his family plan to develop a $33 million retail center...

The remaking of Eastmoreland. (osteopathic hospital in Portland, OR)
October 7, 1994... Tim Moran aims to pump some muscle into the sagging market presence of the small Eastmoreland Hospital, an osteopathic hospital in Southeast Portland that many say is on the brink. As new administrator at Eastmoreland, Moran is facing a...

Rule changes give Shaw fund flexibility. (venture capitalist Ralph Shaw; Venture III Fund)
October 7, 1994... SBA lets funds back larger companies An easing of federal restrictions by the Small Business Administration has vastly expanded investment possibilities for Portland venture capitalist Ralph Shaw and a slew of other deal makers across the...

TCI-Columbia deal rings with phone potential. (Tele-Communications Inc; Columbia Cable)
October 7, 1994... Columbia Cable will sell its Washington and Clark County operating units, with 130,000 local subscribers, to cable industry giant Telecommunications Inc. (TCI) of Denver. Although the deal is worth about $300 million, the real value of the deal...

Weyerhaeuser heading back into woods to boost profits. (acquisition of wastepaper recycling firms)
October 7, 1994... SEATTLE--After several years of beating a retreat from such markets as mutual funds, diapers and milk cartons, the Weyerhaeuser Co. is once again on the acquisition warpath. But this time, its strategy is tightly focused on properties...

Into the regulatory maelstrom. (Joan Smith, chairwoman of the Oregon Public Utility Commission) (Interview)
October 7, 1994... PUC Chairwoman Joan Smith grapples with the chaos created by technological and market forces Change--even welcome change--is usually messy. Nowhere has that been more true than in the realm of utility regulation. While consumers have...